Greenman Designs templates arrived

This morning i recieved my shipment from Greenman Designs, so i'm gonna do a little product review of the items i purchased today.

Here's the kits i ordered:
[quick measure template]

[skull template set]

[space marine vehicle templates set 1]

[turn counter]


The color i chose to order mine in is fluorescent orange, which you can see has a very nice look to it.  when looked at from an angle, the cut edges 'glow' orange, just like the official Games Workshop ones do in green.  Being that orange is one of my favorite colors, i'm very pleased with that effect.

The fluorescent templates are also transparent, again, like the Games Workshop ones.  So they're just as easy to view what models are underneath them.

The markings for measurements and descriptions on the vehicle templates are very easy to read in person as well, so there's no mistaking what they're for.

The shipping was pretty quick and showed up in a reasonable time frame as well; They shipped the templates on Feb 19th, and they arrived some time on March 9th, so almost 3 weeks all in all.  Compared the usual wait times between 6-8 weeks, that was very fast.

Overall i'm very happy with the product and can't wait for a chance to use them in a game.  If you guys reading this like the templates too and would like to check out their online store, the link is on the right in my Link Picks section.

Link review; Secret Weapon Miniatures

so tonight's review is for Secret Weapon Miniatures.

This company mainly specializes in very detailed resin bases for our models.  They also make a smattering of conversion bitz, some hobby tools, and basing materials.  I'm going to focus on their bases tonight since that's what i've purchased from them.

The bases come in a nice resin casting, much like Forge World uses, but with none of the annoying miscasting we're familiar with. (my guess is he visually checks the bases in each batch before mailing them out, since he's still a small enough company to do that sort of fan service.)

The bases are very detailed, and super nice to paint, and come in 3 main styles;
 40K's Beveled style:

Warmachine's Round Lipped style:

 And Display Plinth style:

He also sells them in a nice selection of sizes to meet the needs of any model or gaming system;
20mm, 25mm, 30mm, 40mm, 50mm, 60mm, 120mm, 95mm*120mm Ovals (Trygons/Storm Ravens, anyone?), Bikers/Cavalry, and Objective Markers.

Since most of you readers are probably 40K gamers, i'll just focus on the beveled edge bases.  There's a total of 18 styles as of the writing of this review, plus a 19th choice; Hollow Blanks.


As you can see from the category image, the core of the base is hollow, so that you could mount your model and any skulls, or dead trees, etc, into the base, and then fill it with Clear Effects to make it look like the mini is standing in a pool of water.  Or if your creative, you can mix some coloring into the clear effects and make swamp water, or blood! *muahahahahah!*

Back to the 18 styles.  To save alot of typing, i find pictures are always better, so the following is a gallery of the different base styles they cast, all in 40mm sized bases for easier viewing:

Steel Invasion

 

Bone Fields

Blasted Wetlands

Alien Invasion

Ruined Temple

Urban Rubble

Urban Streets

Urban Invasion

Flight Deck

Steel Plating

Iron Deck

Trench Works

Flagstone

Desert Basin

Desert Mesa

Desert Sands

Desert Wasteland

Runic Mountain

So that's the gallery of his designs, which you can see is a nice variation, and the other sizes of bases are all designed differently as well, so one pack of 40mm, 25mm, and 60mm bases each, will all be different; he doesn't randomize the bases that get put in your order, so the styles you see in the photo are the exact ones you will receive when you buy a pack of bases.  

And that brings me to the pricing.  Out of all the sites i've looked into, this is by far the best for both cost, and the quality of product you're paying for.  a pack of 10 25mm bases, or a pack of 5 40mm bases, or a single large oval 95x120mm base, all run for $10 a pack.  60mm bases, which there's 2 different styles for each theme, sell for $5 a base.  Biker bases sell in packs of 3, for $6.  He also does combo kits, where you get 20 (2 sets) of the 25mm bases, 5 (1 set) of 40mm bases, and 1 of each (2 total) 60mm bases, for $36.  That saves you $4 if you're planning to buy those sizes anyways.

As i also mentioned before, they sell some nice accessories as well.  One of these, being spent shell casings.  These come in packs of 50 shells for $7 to $9, depending on the weapon type.  they make shells for Bolters, Infantry-Held Heavy Bolters, Vehicle-Mounted Heavy Bolters, Dreadnought/Infantry Assault Cannons, Vehicle Assault Cannons, and Shotgun Shells.  they're all made to be the correct size that you can glue one into the ejection chamber on any of these types of guns and it'll sit in there perfectly.  And then of course, place a few extras on your bases to show the model's been firing away.

There's also a few Terrain pieces he's recently added as well that look worth mentioning, such as the 10 Gothic Tank Traps, 3.5" tall Power Generators with glowing power rods, or the 5 Jersey Concrete Barriers.  

Overall, my opinion of the products and the customer service is very satisfactory.  The product is excellent, and i think i might just order some more from them again in the future.  They were also very fast in sending out my order, and none of the bases i received, (i had ordered the ruined temple bases combo kit) had any flaws at all.  It's very nice to order resin products that don't come bent, miscasted with missing sections, or annoying bubbles.

So check em out in My Link Picks on the right of my blog here, and see if you'd like to buy something.

Link Review; Greenman Designs

Today's post is a review on an online seller I've purchased from recently.  The company is called Greenman Designs, and they make custom laser cut templates.

These templates can be ordered in a variety of colors that come in four categories;

Transparent, Opaque (solid), Fluorescent, and Mirrored(reflective).

If you're already an owner of the green Games Workshop templates, which vary from flamer/blast templates, to wound and vehicle status markers, then the Fluorescent line of colors' 'Reactive Green' selection is the color you'd want to order these templates in if you're just planning to add to your collection.

Now, this company has some nice color choices, but that's not where the product line stops grabbing your attention.  They make the usual 3 piece template kits, but with variations on the design to further make your set look unique at your local gaming club. 

There's the basic set, which is fairly close to the style everyone is familiar with.
Then we have the Future, the Gears, and the Skull template sets as well; each one looking different from one another, and eye catching all at once.

I've purchased a set of the skull templates in fluorescent orange, and when they arrive, i'll post better shots of what they look like.

You can also order Quick Measure rulers that have different measurements on each of their sides for 6" assault moves, 2" cohesion, a 1"edge for your 2" deployment out of a vehicle (1" because 25mm bases are an inch themselves, so it becomes a 2" move when the ruler's between the model's base and the vehicle)

There's also a Sliding Blast Ruler that has a 5" blast marker with 3" blast markings etched into it as well, used to accurately measure the scatter distance of a blast template without the trouble of trying to handle a measuring tape and blast marker all at once and still point in the right angle of the scatter dice.

There's also a Counters/Tokens/Markers category, which contains wound counters cut into the shape of that faction's helmet/skull for eldar, orks, human skulls, necron heads, and tyranid skulls.  You can also request custom-cut tokens as well, starting at $1.50 a token. For those that field a Storm Raven, you can order a set of 4 Missile Tokens to keep track of the 4 one-shot missiles they field.  There's also Objective Markers, Vehicle Status Markers, and a 7 Turn Counter, which has a large number for the top of the turn, and a smaller adjacent number for the bottom of the turn.

Finally, there's the set of templates that got my attention originally and led me to purchase from this company in the first place; Vehicle Destroyed Templates.  There are cutouts made for every race that fields a vehicle that currently has an official model released for it.  These templates are intended to be placed down when a vehicle 'Explodes!', so that you have a suitable terrain piece to lay down to represent the terrain is now Difficult, but still have something that models can easily stand on without tipping over.  Anyone who's tried to use blast craters for this, knows all too well how easy it is to have your models fall over or be clustered too tightly for blast weapons to hit them because of this.

Here's an example of one from the Space Marine line:
This one's a Rhino template, which could be used also for any predators, or whirlwinds as well.  The template is a perfect outline of the vehicle, when looked at from a top-down view.

with this placed down when the vehicle has become an exploded wreck, your models can easily be dispersed without worry of them falling over.

All the individual vehicles have a template that has been cut to shape for them, which average at about $5 a template.

The most commonly seen vehicles are also available in a 4 piece combo kit, for $15.  The Space Marine one, for example, comes with 2 rhinos, a land raider, and a drop pod; $5 cheaper than buying the 4 separately.  The names of the combo kits currently available have been worded in such a way to suggest alternate combinations will be available in the future.

Overall, the selection of new templates, both in the types and their colors, and the possibility of even custom ordering your own design of tokens/markers for a far better pricing than most other similar sites give, makes this a site i'd recommend others check out for themselves and even purchase from.

Magnets arrived

The magnets i ordered for fitting my models showed up today.  Now i can finish magnetizing a demi-squad of terminators so they can be the tactical or the assault kind.  I decided to go fancier with the squad and used a box of grey knights to make them, and i'm converting arms to have power fists.

given how soon the magnets showed up, i'm guessing the templates i ordered from greenman designs will be arriving within the next few days as well.